Reflections on Moving

Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go. Joshua 1:9

This past Sunday I mentioned that although it was our last Sunday of worship at Redmond Middle School, we would continue to be a mobile church. We will always be a mobile church, Jesus’ Church is always to be a Church on the move. The God we worship is a sending God; the creative loving fullness of the Father sending his Son, the   just, merciful and loving Son sending the Spirit to make his home in us even as we are sent to a broken and hurting world in desperate need of a savior. 

The pages of scripture reflect this sentness. The Old Testament prophet wrote about the impetus for and the posture of those sent, “He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.” (Micah 6:8). Jesus sent his disciples and all who take his name, with the charge, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” (Matthew 28:18–20)

Several years ago when I first suggested Creekside move to a building that would combine worship, ministry center and offices, I heard from someone who was concerned about what seemed to be a shift in our vision. Over lunch, they told me that the Creekside vision was to never have a building. Yet as we discussed vision and sentness, we both agreed that neither having a building nor not having one were vision, but were instead implementations of a vision. That vision? To be a sent people, a mobile missionary church focused not on ourselves but to those we have been sent beyond our walls\\

As we complete another chapter in the story of Creekside -- as we move with excitement to our new location -- we do so as people sent by God and shaped by the places he has sent us thus far. We go remembering and celebrating the chapters completed, even as we begin this new one. It is wonderful that this new chapter begins during the season of Lent, a time where we ask, “what would it look like for the infinite and the penitent to begin to feel like home in our lives.” 

Spend some time this week thinking through your story. Reflect on when your story first  connected into God’s story. Remember when your story connected into Creekside’s story. Reconnect with a time or a place where you were struck by the weight of the infiniteness of God, a time perhaps when you simultaneously felt both small and insignificant yet deeply loved and called to something far greater than yourself? 

As we move into new places of sentness, we need to be intentional. Listening for God’s voice. Reflecting upon and examining our lives and the voices that speak into them. Participating with him as he moves and shapes us, ordinary people living the extraordinary way of Jesus. 

Peace, hope and love

Doug

Lent, Truth, Strength and Courage

Whoever dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the LORD, “He is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.” Psalms 91:1–2

Today, we are a week into the season of Lent -- the 40 day journey to Easter. What is your experience with Lent?

When I was growing up, I thought Lent was “a Catholic thing” and did not really understand it, or try to. For some of you, Lent was something that was a part of your tradition and it left a bad taste. For still others it was deeply meaningful. I love the fact that I have been introduced to Lent over the past five years or so. It has become a deeply important time, a time of self examination -- not in a sense of trying to please God, but in the knowledge that he is ready pleased with me. It is a time of entering with Jesus into the reality of his infinite nature (and my finitude) with a sense of penitence for not only me, but for us as a people made in God’s image, yet so often using our gifts in ways that ma that image. 

On Sunday I put these words up on the screen: “You are my dear, dear child, and I am delighted with you.” Can you imagine God saying these words to you right now? Do you believe them to be true? They may seem like words for someone else, but the Bible makes it clear that they reflect how God sees and feels about you in Christ. They are words of truth. 

This truth is crucial. This truth, if you appropriate it for yourself will infuse all of your life with the power and the courage to step into needed areas of challenging and growth. In this truth, you will discover a completely different way of doing Lent, a completely different way of being a friend, completely different way of being a spouse, a completely different way of being human. And it happens in the image of God. 

What if this Lent you just sat with those words and you let them change you in the way Jesus meant when he said “repent,” see the goodness of reality and move toward it? 

Sit with those words, put your name into the sentence, “____________, you are my dear, dear child and I am delighted with you.” 

What would you do with God, what areas of growth would you step into, what risk would you take if you knew with every fiber of your being that God was thrilled with you? Because, he is. 

Peace, hope and love

Doug